Everyone, nowadays, has some form of social media that they use. Whether it be e-mail, Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, Twitter, Phone Apps, even the popular Pokemon Go, and so many others. I, too, have quite a few of these social media platforms myself. Social media is not bad when it's used for the right reasons. In fact, social media is probably one of the best things invented of course. It gives us an easier way of communicating with each other and even new ways of learning. However, social media also has it's disadvantages too.
It goes for all of us... we want to check our e-mails often to see if someone sent something (especially if you're a really busy person), we want to post that cool picture of that sunset or meal you ate, or you want to update your friends with what great adventures you might be going on. If we're busy we might need to stay in touch with people via text. Texting is one of the most common things people use in our world today. People don't even have time to call the person anymore.
Although it may be easier to use social media, it can consume your life. It does for me. I find myself checking my e-mail so often that if I don't check it at least two times a day, I start to panic that there might be an unread e-mail and I check once more. It distracts me so much. Facebook for me is even worse. Don't get me wrong, I love Facebook and find it to be one of the best websites I've ever used to keep in touch with old and new friends (and also the largest platform I use to share the articles I write), but I've spent hours a day checking my Facebook for notifications, liking people's statuses, watching cute videos of little animals, reading trending articles, and updating my status probably once a day. I shouldn't be doing this because all of a sudden I'm wasting half of my time online.
Getting consumed by social media has gotten so bad for me that I have my head down in my phone and almost completely ignore people sometimes. It's the same for so many other people as well. When you're walking down the streets, you see people looking down at their phones, completely ignoring or acknowledging other people around them. Some might even have headphones in so they don't have to socialize. It has gotten to the point where people are missing the world around them because their faces are in their phones. They miss the beauty of nature, the interaction with other people, and the conversations you can have instead of texting. Some people are so desperate to be on their phones that they risk detention at school to text their friends in class, instead of paying attention and taking notes. They value their phone, rather than their education. I've seen this happen all too often.
Instead of watching the live performance of a concert or play, you're too busy filming on your phone or texting a friend, missing the real experience. Instead of watching the sunset or sunrise, you're taking a photo of it to post on Instagram so you can get more likes. Instead of being there in the moment for a big day like a graduation or wedding, you're too busy trying to take pictures on your phone during the ceremony. We need to have social media stop consuming and controlling our lives. Yes, we want to keep the memories by taking those pictures or videos, but when we do so, we're missing the actual event happening right in front of us.
For me in my personal life, I've texted my mom to ask a question when she was in the same house as me instead of walking upstairs. It has turned me into someone I don't want to be. I shouldn't be lazy and I shouldn't be texting so much. It's almost turned into a habit for me to look at my phone every so often everyday.
My relationship with God has suffered too. I have enough time to scroll through Facebook and Instagram watching videos and sharing articles, but I don't have 15 minutes to say the rosary? I don't always take the time to go to adoration one hour a week but I have time to binge watch episodes on Netflix and Youtube? It's consumed my life so much that I'm losing the personal relationship I have with God, the most important thing for me in my life.
If I limit myself, then I can focus on real interaction and relationships, and that goes for everyone. But it's challenging, because we also live in a world where our generation is advancing, and we're finding new technology everyday. There seems to be a new iPhone coming out every other month, and new apps for smart phones trending every week. We become obsessed with these things and can't put them down. Suddenly, we're spending so much money on these things, and instead of buying food or other useful things, we're spending it on virtual money to get accessories that don't even exist. We're sharing videos of poverty-stricken countries on our iPads, but we're not donating anything to them...we just share the video and put a sad emoji next to it. Will that save them?
Technology is a great thing, keeping us from making things much harder, and we need it to survive in our world today. But we also need to take the time to look up from our phones and get back to the real world. The real world is waiting for us to explore it, and we can't do that if we're glued to our computers and phones.
